Role of Linux Kernel

In a Linux system. several concurrent processes attend to

different tasks. Each process asks for system resources
like computing power. memory. network connectivity, or
Some other resource
The kernel is the big chunk of executable code in charge
ofhandling all such requests
Although the distinction between the different kernel tasks
isn't always clearly marked. the kernel's role can be split
into the following parts
 Kernel RoleS
Process management
Memory management
File Systems
Device control
Networking

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Split view of kernel
System Call Interface

Process Memory File Device Kernel

Networking Subsyste
Management Management Systems Control
Concurrent Virtual Memory Features
Files and dirs ofVES Ttys&Devices
multitasking Access Connectivity Implement
File System Network
Arch Char
dependen Memory types subsystem Software
Manager Block Devices IF drives Support
t code
devices

DiSk Consoles Network Harduare

CPU Memory etc Interfaces
Process management
The kernel is in charge of creating and destroy1ng processes
and handling their connection to the outside world (input a n
output).
Communication among different processes (through signals.
Pipes, or inter-prOcess communication primitives) is basic to
the overall system functionality and is also handled by the
kernel.
The scheduler, which controls hoW processes share the CPU, is=
part of process management. More generally, the kernel's
process management activity mplements the abstraction of
Several processes on top of a single CPU or a few of them
w
Memory management
memory is a major resource, and the
The computer's
with it is critical one for system
policy used to deal a

kernel builds a virtual addressing

performance. The up
all processes on top of the limited
space for any and
available resources.
different parts of the kernel interact with the memory-
The
subsystem through a set of function calls.
management
pc/free pair to much more
rangingfrom t
complex funct
Filesystems
Linux is heavily based on the filesystem concept; almost
everything in Linux can be treated as a file.
The kernel builds a structured filesystem on top of unstructured
hardware, and the result1ng file concept is heavily used
throughout the whole system.
In addition, Linux supports multiple filesystem
types, that is.
ditferent ways of organizing data on the physical medium. For
example, disks may be formatted with the Linux-standard ext3
filesystem. the commonly used FAT filesystem or several
others.
Device control
operation eventually maps to a phys1cal
Almost every system
and a
device. With the exception of the processor, memory,
device control operations
very feW other entities, any and all
are performed by code that is specific to the device being

addressed. That code is called a device driver.

.The kernel must have embedded in it a device driver for every
peripheral present on a system. from the hard drive to the
keyboard and the tape drive This aspect of the kernel's
functions is our primary interest in this tutorialI
Networking
Networking must be managed by the operating system,
because most network operations are not specific to a
Tlhe
process: incoming packets are asynchronous events.
packets must be collected, identified, and dispatched
before a process takes care of them.
The system is in charge of delivering data packets across

program and network interfaces. and it must control the

execution of programs according to their network activity
Additionally. all the routing and address resolution issues
are implemented within the kernel.